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Mostly Cloudy Community meeting held in wake of shooting
Talks focused on police relations, youth intervention
Less than a week after a shooting in the Channel Park Homes rattled residents and left a man injured, community leaders and city officials met to address residents’ concerns and possible solutions to prevent more violence.
“One issue in Long Beach is all of our issue,” said Martin Luther King Center Chairman James Hodge. “We’re here to say one gunshot is too many gunshots. One situations is to many situations.”
The meeting, hosted by the MLK Center, the Long Beach Housing Authority and the Police Department, was held Nov. 7 at the housing authority’s office at 500 Centre St., which serves as a central hub for the community, even hosting an after-school program for local students, Project Excellence.
Many representatives of local law enforcement, including Police Commissioner Mike Tangney, community and youth organizations and local officials spoke about actions that are already being taken by the LBPD to increase police presence and communication, as well as things they want to see happen in the community, like better police relations and youth programs.
According to police, the shooting that triggered the meeting occurred just before noon on Nov. 2. Officers found a man lying in the street at 1 Sycamore Ct. and National Boulevard. The 26-year-old victim, who was from Inwood, was taken to South Nassau Communities Hospital and treated for non-life-threatening injuries, police said.
Tangney said that two gang members, from Far Rockaway and Inwood, came to Long Beach looking for the victim. “Our early information is that it was actually over a girl,” Tangney said. “They came looking for the girl’s old boyfriend.”
Officers found 31 shell casings of varying calibers in the roadway at National Boulevard and West Fulton Street. Tangney said that two rifles — both illegal — were recovered on West Fulton, and that at least four men may have been involved. Detectives tried to gather information from bystanders, he said, but all claimed they had not witnessed the incident. The bullets entered two apartments and some cars in the area.
